One of the key elements in determining the success of an event for professional associations is maximizing ROI. One of the most productive ways to ensure this is to build on the momentum created by your event through proven post-event engagement strategies. The right blend of post event engagement strategies can build upon the value and shelf life of your event and reflect positively on your brand. Perhaps the most important factor, however, is that post-event engagement is critical in building and nurturing long-term relationships with attendees.
In this article we will discuss specific strategies to maintain connections with your audience. We will explore the critical importance of ongoing communication and networking. We’ll explain how polls, surveys, and exclusive content can keep the momentum going long after your attendees return home.
Why Post-Event Engagement Matters
It can be easy to get lost in the excitement and execution of seeing an event come together. Sure, the event can be fun, entertaining, and educational, but there is a deeper core goal behind these professional events. It is to build more and stronger relationships that are long-lasting. This is exactly why post event engagement is so powerful. It is an important way to realize these goals.
While your event can demonstrate your competence and capabilities, it is those post-event activities that can be so effective in creating lasting relationships. When these strategies are customized to your event and organization, they can serve as a multiplier of the power of your post-event engagement strategies.
A Community Within Your Community
An association is already an organized group of like-minded people with an interest in a particular purpose. When you stage an event, you are, in essence, creating a community within your association.
These people are often the movers and shakers in an industry and have an interest in building their knowledge and connections within their business or industry. This subgroup of your association already has experience in common and are building their own networks. You can benefit by helping to facilitate their continued involvement with each other and your organization. It also can be a significant boost in promoting upcoming events.
This can be important in the post event marketing period. You have this interested, active, involved group that supports your organization. They are certainly worth investing additional time and effort in, and it starts with post-event engagement.
Key Post-Event Engagement Strategies
After executing your pre event marketing strategies and your event engagement activities, you should have a wealth of info and data to pull from to effectively, positively, and precisely connect with attendees in the post-event marketing period.
It is important to note that while most view the event itself as the height of momentum, attendees are often most positive and feeling good about your association in the immediate post-event period. This is why you want to quickly act on maintaining connections and nurturing relationships following the event.
Create a Post-Event Website and Resource Page
Head into your event with a post-event website and resource page in mind. Get plenty of images and short videos. Be sure to capture key attendees and sponsors. Your resource page may also include a survey, exclusive content, and event sessions. Use this page as the center-piece for your post-event engagement activities. Link it in every post event communication and promote it in all your digital social media.
Personalize Post-Event Follow-up Communications
Craft sincere and meaningful thank-you notes tailored to the recipients. You may want to reference the positive features of the event. This is also a good time to solicit their feedback through a survey or open-ended questions. Emphasize the value you place on all input and prepare to respond as necessary.
Remember, this is not casually sending a thank-you note after receiving a graduation gift. It should be done professionally and made as personal as possible.
Your post-event communications should be carried out with a sense of urgency. The more you delay, the less likely your recipients are likely to respond.
Create a Post-Event Contest or Contests for Attendees
You can use your post-event website to keep attendees interested and engaged by conducting fun contests. These contests could include trivia about the event or the host city.
Build a simple word search or crossword puzzle using event-related terms. You could simply post registration or badge numbers and have attendees reach out to you to claim prizes.
You could even offer prizes to the organization and attendees that are represented. Prizes could be offered for participation in a short poll.
Gift cards or branded merchandise from your association can make appreciated prizes. A lighthearted contest can extend the fun of your event in a small way.
Reach Out to Your No-Shows
Sending a note to those who registered but could not make it to your event can have a powerful impact. It demonstrates that you were aware of their absence, and they were missed. You may want to send along a link to your post-event page and post-event photos. It may also be a good time to reach out with any credits for next year’s event.
Keep in mind at this point, you may not know the reason for them being a no-show, so be cautious about being judgmental or too strict in a no-refund policy.
Publicize Your Event in the Post-Event Period
The successful conclusion of your event can be newsworthy. Publicize it as that. Make sure you get as much visibility as possible to those who decided not to attend. Use your association website and social media to accomplish this. Now is the time to start nurturing these people into attendee candidates for next year. Be sure to include positive reactions, quotes, and testimonials in your post-event marketing and promotion.
Utilizing Social Media for Continued Engagement
The post-event period is a terrific time to leverage social media to validate the positive experiences of your attendees. You can use a variety of tools to accomplish this, including hashtag comments, social media contests, by soliciting and posting user-generated images and videos.
Your goal is to keep the conversation alive through questions and encouraging those who attended to share their experiences.
Creating Post-Event Content
Creating post-event content allows you to control the narrative and to choose what particularly well-received sessions to highlight. Use blogging and vlogging to review these high points. Share behind the scenes photos, as well as stories and insights from speakers and presenters. Include links to your exclusive content on your post-event website and resource page.
This is also a good time to give your event sponsors a little extra love. Make sure this content is linked to your post-event website and resource page.
Organizing Follow-Up Networking Opportunities
Many attendees view networking as the single most powerful reason for attending professional events. You can benefit from staying involved in these networking opportunities. Create smaller or regional get-togethers or establish virtual meetings. Help facilitate connectivity with those involved in your association. Make sure you are playing a role in facilitating stronger relationships.
Offering Exclusive Incentives
The post-event marketing period is a perfect time to maintain positive relations with perks, offers, and exclusive content specifically for those who attended the event. This is a terrific vehicle for not only demonstrating your appreciation for their support but to show how attendees are valued. These “bonuses” are often so appreciated because they may be unexpected. It is a way to make your guests feel like they are still part of an exclusive group.
Engaging with Attendees Through Surveys and Feedback
Conducting post-event surveys and collecting ongoing feedback not only shows attendees that their feedback matters but can be valuable data in building future events.
Consider a survey to follow up on previous feedback, to focus on particular responses. “What if…” and “Would you…” type questions are a great way to follow up on responses you get from an initial post-event survey. You may find potential ambassadors in those who provide thoughtful and positive insights.
Measuring Success
Of course, you will want to track and measure your post-event engagement to help determine its success and to set the benchmark for future events. Track the number and success of your various engagement strategies. Keep in mind that the success of your post-engagement strategies is not just about numbers but also the quality of the feedback you receive. Every touchpoint, each connection, and every engagement can have a positive impact on binding your association with supporters.
At this point, you should have access to an enormous amount of data about your event and its attendees. You know what sessions were popular and why. You have feedback from sponsors and vendors. It is time to merge all of this valuable information and use it in building permanent relationships.
Conclusion
When it comes to professional trade shows, conferences and building relationships, it may not even be over at the conclusion of the event. Post-event engagement activities have become an increasingly valuable tool in creating long-term relations, and those who bail too quickly following an event are missing some valuable opportunities.
This is where all your previous efforts pay dividends to become supporters and sponsors. This is the season for cultivating and crafting long-term, valuable relationships to build the strength of your association or organization.
Key components of this post-event include sending timely thank you messages and seeking input through surveys. It should include post-event perks like valuable attendee-only content and networking opportunities. It should build on the ties between those who went through the complete event journey experience and your association.
We encourage you to discuss ways you can build on the post-event experience. Share how you may take better advantage of your successful event. Explain how you can explore taking steps to avoid missing post-event engagement opportunities.
The goal? Turning the euphoria and goodwill that are available following a successful professional conference or trade show into valuable, lasting relationships.
Employing the Power of Technology
One of the reasons post-event activities or engagement strategies are overlooked or ignored is that an organization may not feel it has the human, financial, or technological resources to fully take advantage of the valuable data that is available. There is also a certain level of fatigue that can come into play a successful event.
This is where MemberClicks shines.
Our innovative software solutions for organizations and event planners help improve ROI, take advantage of available data and feedback, and maximize staffing and human resources. It helps ensure your organization is taking full advantage of every opportunity it may face along the way.
See why an increasing amount of small to large organizations are choosing MemberClicks. Schedule your free trial and we think you will quickly see how Memberclicks can help take your organization to the next level.
